The Book of Zabu
 

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Character Bio - Zabu was the last sabre-toothed cat in the Savage Land. Zabu was born in the Savage Land. His mother and siblings were killed by a local tribe. After that, Zabu was adopted by a pack of wolves, but ran away because he killed the eldest wolf cub in a fight for leadership.

Zabu wandered the Savage Land, teaching himself how to survive. After his first birthday, he encountered his first female which became his mate. Maa-Gor, a leader of a tribe was hunting and killing sabre-tooth tigers, making them almost extinct. Maa-Gor and his men killed Zabu's mate. Zabu, angry, attacked them and was about to attack a boy called Kevin Plunder. Maa-Gor killed his father and would've probably killed him, if Zabu didn't attack. Maa-Gor fought back as he was about to throw a spear to Zabu, but Kevin shot Maa-Gor with his father's gun. (From Comic Vine)
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• N/A

Outgoing Synergy:

• Zabu may choose a Human Hunter for his Hunter's Companion special power. Current Human Hunters.
• Zabu adds to his attack and defense when adjacent to a Jungle Piece, due to his Jungle Strength 1 special power. Current figures with special powers that let them count as Jungle Pieces.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• As a figure with a special attack, Zabu can interact differently with these special powers.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest (round 1): (ZettianJuggernaut)
• Initial playtest (round 2): (ZettianJuggernaut)
• Second playtest: (Viegon)
• Third playtest: (fret_gurglo)
• Fourth playtest: (Karat)
• Fifth playtest: (bsbush7690)
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by Japes

Re: The Book of Zabu
 

NAME = ZABU

SPECIES = TIGER
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = COMPANION
PERSONALITY = WILD

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 4

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 7
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 130

HUNTER'S COMPANION
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Human Hunter Hero you control to be Zabu’s Companion. After moving with Zabu's Companion, you may move Zabu as long as he ends his movement adjacent to his Companion. After revealing an Order Marker and taking a turn with Zabu's Companion, Zabu may make an immediate attack, if possible.

DEVASTATING POUNCE SPECIAL ATTACK
Range Special. Attack 6.
Choose a non-adjacent figure within 4 clear sight spaces whose base is not higher or lower than 6 levels from the base of Zabu. Before attacking, place Zabu adjacent to the chosen figure. If the chosen figure is destroyed with this special attack, immediately place Zabu on the space previously occupied by the chosen figure. If the chosen figure is not destroyed, place one Wound Marker on this card. When Zabu is moved by this special attack, he will take any leaving engagement attacks.

JUNGLE STRENGTH 1
While Zabu is adjacent to an Evergreen Tree or Jungle Piece, he adds 1 die to his attack and defense.

CHANGE LOG:

Re: The Book of Zabu
 

Comic Art:

Mini Pics:

Mini Backgrounds:

Re: The Book of Zabu
 

I'd go with Tiger instead of Sabretooth Tiger... but we're super inconsistent with how we name animal species so man, I dunno. Maybe just Smilodon since that'd be his scientific name.

His stats might need some tweaks (3 Defense + 4 Life will go down pretty fast), and I like what Hunter's Companion does, but it feels really wordy to me for what amounts to bonding. We can probably trim it down to something mechanically simpler.

HUNTER'S COMPANION
At the beginning of the game, you may choose one Unique Human Hunter Hero you control to be Zabu's Companion. After revealing an Order Marker on any his Companion's card you control and taking a turn with his Companion, you may take a turn with Zabu. During this turn, Zabu cannot attack a figure that was not attacked by his Companion during his Companion's turn.

...the second half of that is really rough, and it moves the movement phase up a bit, but I don't think that detail is worth the complexity.

I absolutely love Pounce attacks, though, so I'm glad to see that being reused. :D

Re: The Book of Zabu
 

A couple thoughts:
1) I think it'd make more sense to have Zabu move instead of being placed with his Companion power. To borrow wording from Krypto:

HUNTER'S COMPANION
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Human Hunter Hero you control to be Zabu’s Companion. After moving with Zabu's Companion, if Zabu was adjacent to his Companion before it moved, you may move Zabu as long as he ends his movement adjacent to his Companion. Immediately after attacking with Zabu's Companion, if Zabu is within 4 clear sight spaces of the attacked figure, Zabu may immediately attack that figure with a normal or special attack. When Zabu moves with Hunter’s Companion, he will take any leaving engagement attacks.

2) While Wild fits for his personality, would Loyal work better?
3) He should probably have a jungle-based power similar to Ka-Zar's King of the Jungle.

Otherwise, I really like the direction here; Zabu and Ka-Zar will make for a very fun duo.

EDIT: The issue with making it bonding is that he can't use it when Ka-Zar or Kraven use their tracking power; personally, Zabu should totally be able to track alongside them. I am in favor of bumping his stats though.

Re: The Book of Zabu
 

That's true about Big Game Tracking... that's definitely something we'd want. Certainly ups the complexity but I suppose there's no way around that.

Re: The Book of Zabu
 

I'd say his defense/life stats need to come up quite a bit.... if an average Gorilla has 4-5 defense and 5 life, I would think a sabertooth tiger would be similar.

Re: The Book of Zabu
 

Thinking about it more, you could probably trim the text down like this:

HUNTER'S COMPANION
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Human Hunter Hero you control to be Zabu’s Companion. After moving with Zabu's Companion, you may move Zabu as long as he ends his movement adjacent to his Companion. After attacking an opponent's figure with Zabu's Companion, you may immediately attack that figure with Zabu's normal or special attack if it is within range.

Mechanically, it's the same except Zabu no longer needs to start next to his Companion to move, he only needs to end next to it. I don't think we need the "if Zabu is within 4 spaces" wording, because if he's not he obviously can't attack that figure (though I did toss in "if it is within range"). I also dropped the leaving engagement part, because you always take leaving engagement attacks unless otherwise stated.

As to stats, personally I'd like to see his move bumped to 7 (so he can better keep up with Ka-Zar who is crazy fast on jungle maps), and his defense bumped to 4. If you go any higher then that he'll be tougher then Ka-Zar, which doesn't seem thematic.

My :2cents:.

Re: The Book of Zabu - Design Phase
 

I like Viegon's latest wording of Hunter's Companion, bumping his stats some, and adding Jungle Strength.

So we would be looking at:

Re: The Book of Zabu - Design Phase
 

I'd go with "if possible" instead of "if it is in range," but otherwise that's looking good. :up:

Re: The Book of Zabu - Design Phase
 

The power name says Hunter's Companion, but the power text has the Hero being Zabu's companion, which doesn't jive.

Re: The Book of Zabu - Design Phase
 

Yeah, that struck me at first too, but are you not your companion's companion?